In recent years, the Internet has made possible online commerce services. Typically, a customer visits the web site of a merchant that has set up a network-based commerce system. Once the customer has selected some items to buy, the customer follows hyperlinks to a section of the web site where an order is placed, and a method of payment is entered, for the items. Typically, this process will require entering data in one or more pages. For example, a first web page may include an electronic form where the customer enters his/her name, address, phone number, etc. Having entered these details, the customer presses a “submit” button and is directed to a next page to select a shipping method. Next, the customer may be directed to a page in which billing information and a billing address may be entered. This page may include an electronic form for entering credit card number, expiration date, and other billing information. Finally, the user is presented with a button which, when clicked upon, commits the transaction and sends the information to the merchant for billing and shipping.
Often, a customer will be in the habit of repeatedly purchasing items from a particular merchant or from several merchants. In this situation, the repeated entry of billing addresses, payment instrument information, and the like may be experienced by the customer as tedious.
Since the customer's shipping addresses, billing information, etc. typically do not change much over time, some network-based commerce systems offer the option to create an account for a customer for storing these details, so that when a customer returns to make an additional purchase, the customer need only enter, for example, an email address and password before clicking the transaction commit button to purchase an item.
This approach is limited, however, in that the customer must set up such an account for each network-based commerce system through which the customer purchases goods or services, which with the rapid growth of a diversity of electronic commerce sites, may require setting up such accounts with a great many network-based commerce systems. In addition, some customers may hesitate to store their credit card numbers or other sensitive value-transfer facilitating information in numerous network-based commerce systems, out of fear of fraudulent or erroneous use by network-based commerce system personnel. Finally, if a customer's details change (shipping address changes (for example, new shipping address due to a move to a new residence, reissued credit card with a new number, etc.), the customer will need to remember all their accounts with various web-based commerce systems, log into them, and update his/her details. If the customer is in the habit of utilizing a large number of network-based commerce systems, this wholesale updating may be a error-prone chore.